Commerzbank

Europe’s corporate bond market was knocked sideways on Thursday by a gust of fear about peripheral Europe, after problems deepened at Portugal's Banco Espírito Santo. The market has not shut down, but ACS, the Spanish construction company, pulled a deal and no issuer managed to price tighter than its initial thoughts.

The Inter-American Development Bank took advantage of strong demand for dollar paper this week to sell its largest dollar benchmark, while Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten also visited the market, suggesting that appetite remains robust despite many investors getting ready to embark on summer holidays.

Italian defence contractor Finmeccanica has signed a €2.2bn revolving credit facility, €200m smaller than the 2010 facility being refinanced.

Three issuers launched covered bonds this week with varying results, which suggested that the converging trend between core and peripheral Europe has stalled. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) struggled to attract anything like the demand seen in its previous covered bond as Portuguese woes outweighed the programme’s rating upgrade into investment grade territory.

Zurich Insurance cast a wide net to catch as many investors as possible with its first senior Swiss franc print of 2014 on Tuesday, offering three tranches to sell a total Sfr600m ($670.8m) of fixed and floating rate notes.

Commerzbank loan syndication, sales and trading banker Sandy Bruce will be moving to a new position at the bank at the end of this month.

Italian defence contractor Finmeccanica has signed a €2.2bn revolving credit facility, €200m smaller than the 2010 facility being refinanced.

Zurich Insurance opted to cast a wide net to catch as many investors as possible with its first senior Swiss franc print of 2014 on Tuesday, offering three tranches to sell a combined total of Sfr600m ($670.8m) of fixed and floating rate notes.

Garanti Bank sold a €500m five year bond on Tuesday in line with initial price thoughts — an unusual event in CEEMEA where pricing is typically tightened. But a syndicate official on the note said he was pleased with the result, and one away from the deal said Garanti’s generosity may have been necessary after a string of Turkish bank deals in the last month.

Deutsche Annington, the German housing company, on Wednesday brought its fifth bond issue since its rebirth last summer as a listed company that issues unsecured bonds. An objective of the deal was to increase Deutsche Annington’s following with German investors, and it succeeded in this aim.

Garanti Bank sold a €500m five year bond on Tuesday in line with initial price thoughts — an unusual event in CEEMEA where pricing is typically tightened. But a syndicate official on the note said he was pleased with the result, and one away from the deal said Garanti’s generosity may have been necessary after a string of Turkish bank deals in the last month.

Garanti Bank has set final yield guidance for its five year €500m no grow bond at 3.5%, in line with price guidance earlier in the day. But some rival bankers said they had expected to see a tighter print.